Goldsborough robinson



(No Model.)

G. ROBINSON. 4 PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR MOISTENING LEAP TOBACCO. No. 268,291. Patented Nov..Z8, 1882 ATTORNEYS.

WITNESSES INVENTOR UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

GOLDSBOROUGH ROBIN SObl, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR TO THE LOUISVILLE LEAF TOBACCO COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR MOISTENING LEAF-TOBACCO.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 268,291, dated November 28, 188

Application filed June 2, 1882. (N0 model.)

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GOLDSBOROUGH ROBIN- sow, ot'Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Process of 'and Apparatus for ImpartingMoisture to Leaf-Tobacco or other Substances; and I do hereby declare'that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being bad to the accompa nying drawings, in which the figure is a side elevation, partly in section, of myimproved apparatus for imparting moisture to leaf-tobacco The manufacture of tobacco requires that the leaf be in, a moist or soft condition, and yet not wet, in orderthat it may be worked. To attain this end the custom has. been to apply steam or vapor to it.

My invention relates more especially tot-he manner and economy of this application. The ordinary method is to place the tobacco to be softened in some apartment and then to run into this apartment fresh, live, or escape steam, there being ordinarily in the apartment ventilators, through which the steam constantly escapes. This method is expensive from the quantity of steam used and lost, and unsatisfactory on account of the impossibility of applying the steam equally to all the tobacco. Its great heat is a disadvantage, and it naturally rises to the top of the apartment and Wets the tobacco there without acting on that lower down.

Myinvention consists in applyingthis steam or vapor so that it will be completely used up without waste, and at the same time act on the substance to be moistened equally and at a reasonably cool temperature.

A is a close vapor-room into which live, waste, or escape steam is run through pipe a. I preferably construct this room with a tank, I), at the bottom, and carry the condensed water back to be pumped into the boiler.

13 is a ventilator-fan connected at its inlet by suitable pipes, c, with the vapor-room and its outlet 01, with chamber 0, in which is placed the tobacco or substance to be acted on.

Chamber C, I preferably construct as shown in drawing, being simply a long box with small doors m, through which the tobacco is intro duced after being spread out on wire racks, any receptacle, however, suitable to convenie-nce of user can be made, so that it is of such shape that the draft of air can spread throughout it.

D is a suitable pipe, connecting chamber C 5 5 with vapor-room A.

In carrying out my process and using this apparatus I first place the substance to be acted on on suitable racks in chamber 0. The fan B then draws a supply of air and vapor from vapor-room A, and forces it through outlet-pipe d to chamber C, thoroughly permeating the substance to be acted on, and thence forcing it back through pipe D to vapor-room A. It will be observed that by this construction the same steam is used over and over again until exhausted. This constant circulation of moist air is kept up until the desired result is reached, when the racks are withdrawn and replaced by others.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new isl. The process of economically imparting moisture to tobacco or other substances herein described, consisting in subjecting the tobacco in a chamber to a blast of moist air and by the blast returning the air partly deprived of moisture from the tobacco-room to the vapor-room, and so on continuously, as set forth.

2. The combination, with a vapor-room, A, provided with a steam-pipe, a, exhaust-fan B, and pipes 0 (Z, of the tobacco-chamber C, and

return-pipe D, connecting the tobacco-cham beer with the vapor-room, the whole constructed, arranged, and operated substantially as described.

GOLDSBORO-UGH ROBINSON.

Witnesses: V

SoLoN 0. KEMON, CHAS. A. Pn'rrrr. 

